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Department of Antiquities

Ancient Cyprus in the Ashmolean Museum

Ancient Cyprus: Chronology

Cyprus seems to have been first used by humans about 10,000 years
ago, probably by a small group of people from the mainland who lived by
hunting and gathering food. This period of Cyprus’ past has only
recently been discovered and the Ashmolean collections do not contain
any material from this very remote time.

The Ashmolean collections contain material representative of the
span of human history on Cyprus, from the villages of the first farming
communities of the Neolithic period to post-Medieval times.

They
do not contain any objects from the Ottoman or Modern periods.

The chronology of Cyprus is divided into the following periods:

Pre-Neolithic

Hunter-gatherer communities.

Neolithic (I, II)

c.7000 - c.4000BC

First farming communities and the first pottery made.

Chalcolithic (I, II) (Copper Age)

c.4000 - c.2600BC

First metal objects made on island, out of copper. The same period
as the Minoan civilisation on Crete.

Early Bronze Age (I-III) (Early Cypriote Age)

c.2600 - c.2000BC

Bronze, a strong and versatile alloy of copper, was first used
to make tools and ornaments. The technology possibly introduced by a group
of immigrants from Anatolia.

Middle Bronze Age (Middle Cypriote Age).

c.2000 - c.1600BC

A short and relatively peaceful period when many villages were
settled.

Late Bronze Age (I, II)

c.1600 - c.1050BC

Trade links with Egypt and Near East well established and Cyprus
is prosperous for much of the period. The ‘Sea People’ are
active in the eastern Mediterranean including Cyprus. The time of the
Mycenaean period in Greece, which had a great effect on Cypriot culture.

Iron Age: Cypro-Geometric Age

c.1050 - c.750BC

Cypriot culture shows much influence from Greece. Contact with
the Phoenicians from the 9th century.

Iron Age: Cypro-Archaic Age

c.750 - c.500BC

Period of the city-kingdoms despite the island being ruled by a
succession of foreign countries for much of the period (Assyrians, from
709 BC; Egyptians, from c.570 BC; and Persians, from 545 BC)

.

Iron Age: Cypro-Classical Age

c. 500- c.325 BC

Cyprus ruled by the Persians until their defeat by Alexander the
Great of Greece in 333 BC. Cypriot cities then come under Greek rule.

Hellenistic

c. 325 - 30 BC

The end of the period of city-kingdoms. Cyprus set free by Alexander
the Great in thanks for their help in defeating the Persians. Unfortunately
Alexander dies not long after

and civil war follows. Cyprus was annexed
by Egypt in 294 BC, and was a province under the rule of the Ptolemies
until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC (although annexed by Republican
Rome in 58 BC)

Roman

30 BC - AD 395

Cyprus became a senatorial province of Imperial Rome in 30 BC,
and remained under Roman rule until the division of the Roman Empire by
Constantine the Great in AD 395.

It was a prosperous and peaceful
period.

Byzantine

AD 395 - 1191

Cyprus was part of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, ruled from
Constantinople. A 7th century agreement between Arabs and Byzantines allowed
peaceful co-existence and prosperity for much of the period. The Crusades
brought Western Europeans to Cyprus, which led to the

end of Byzantine
rule there.

Lusignan (Frankish)

AD 1191 - 1489

Cyprus
was captured from its Byzantine ruler by Richard I of England in AD 1191
and purchased from him by Guy de Lusignan, the former Frankish "King
of Jerusalem" in AD 1192. The Lusignian rulers established a feudal
system on Cyprus, which was dominated by a wealthy French nobility. The
last Lusignian ruler abdicated in favour of the Venetians in AD 1489.

Venetian

AD 1489 - 1571

The
powerful Italian merchant city-state of Venice ruled Cyprus through a
series of military governors. Despite heavily fortifying the island, Cyprus
fell to Ottoman control in AD 1571.

Ottoman (Turkish)

AD 1571 - 1878

Cyprus
was ruled as part of the Ottoman Empire until administration of the island
was ceded to Britain in 1878 in return for assistance in the Russo-Turkish
war.

Modern

AD
1878 -

Britain
took over administration of Cyprus in 1878 and annexed the island in1914
after Turkey entered World War I as one of the Central powers. Cyprus
became a Crown Colony in 1925, but started to gain limited self-rule after
World War II. Full independence was achieved for the Republic of Cyprus
in 1960.